Diploma in Permaculture Design

The Permaculture Diploma is a self-directed program, guided by a coach/mentor, exploring any aspect of permaculture. Your program will embody the ethics and design principles of permaculture and must be the equivalent of 2 years of full time work. The Diploma is only open to peple who already hold a Permaculture Design Certificate.

The Diploma Process:

The first thing is to find a mentor who can guide and assist you through the application process and over the course of the whole project. A list of mentors is available below.

Develop a proposal for your diploma. Talk to your mentor first about what that needs to look like. Submit it to them in the first instance and they will get feedback from a panel of permaculture experts. Then finalise your proposal.

Get to work !

Keep a record of all time spent on your diploma. Anything “permaculture” done since you finished your PDC counts towards your 2 years worth of work: courses, workshops, hui, designing, implementation, etc.

Work with your coach/mentor as often as you need.

Document your work as you go: photographs, drawings, writing, video, audio, blog, whatever you like. This documentation is the basis of your diploma presentation and evaluation so make sure it adequately demonstrates what you have done, your thinking behind your decisions, and the outcomes.

When you have completed your diploma work, submit it to your mentor for review. If he/she believes that you have work of sufficient quality and quantity, then you can submit your work to the Permaculture Educators Guild.

You will make your final presentation to a panel of permaculture experts, including your mentor. Your presentation may comprise many formats, eg, a site tour, website tour, book format, video, powerpoint, etc. The presentation should include an interpretation that shows how your work demonstrates a groundedness in the ethics and design principles of permaculture.

It is expected that your diploma work will be available in the public domain in some form, including through the PiNZ website.

Diplomas are conferred at the annual PINZ hui

Retrospective work

You can develop a diploma proposal for work you have already done but this is discouraged. If you feel you have a very good reason for doing so, you must still work with a mentor to document your work, and develop your final presentation.

There is a fee of $100 to Permaculture in New Zealand for the costs of administration and certification. This will be charged at the time that your diploma is awarded. Mentors may require a fee for their time, and it is best to discuss this with them at the outset, but in any case the principle of utu / reciprocity suggests that some kind of koha for theri time and effort is appropriate.